in the English taste:--it was I who introduced that taste into
France, and it is become universal. But the French parody your Gardens:
they put your thirty acres into three.'

"From his Gardens you see the Alps, the Lake, the City of Geneva and its
environs, which are very pleasant. He said:--

VOLTAIRE. "'It is a beautiful prospect.' He pronounced these words
tolerably well.

SHERLOCK. "'How long is it since you were in England?'

VOLTAIRE. "'Fifty years, at least.' [Not quite; in 1728 left; in 1726
had come.] [Supra, vii. 47.]

D'HORNOI. "'It was at the time when you printed the First Edition of
your HENRIADE.'

"We then talked of Literature; and from that moment he forgot his age
and infirmities, and spoke with the warmth of a man of thirty. He
said some shocking things against Moses and against Shakspeare. [Like
enough!]... We then talked of Spain.

VOLTAIRE. "'It is a Country of which we know no more than of the most
savage parts of Africa; and it is not worth the trouble of being known.
If a man would travel there, he must carry his bed, &c. On arriving in
a Town, he must go into one street to buy a bottle of wine; a piece of
a mule [by way of beef] in another; he finds a table in a third,--and he
sups. A French Nobleman was passing through Pampeluna: he sent out for
a spit; there was only one in the Town, and that was lent away for a
wedding.'

D'HORNOI. "'There, Monsieur, is a Village which M. de Voltaire has
built!'

VOLTAIRE. "'Yes, we have our freedoms here. Cut off a little corner, and
we are out of France. I asked some privileges for my Children here, and
the King has granted me all that I asked, and has declared this Pays de
Gex exempt from all Taxes of the Farmers-General; so that salt, which
formerly sold for ten sous a pound, now sells for four. I have nothing
more to ask, except to live.'--We went into the Library" (had made the
round of the Gardens, I suppose).

SCENE II. IN THE LIBRARY.

VOLTAIRE. "'There you find several of your countrymen [he had
Shakspeare, Milton, Congreve, Rochester, Shaftesbury, Bolingbroke,
Robertson, Hume and others]. Robertson is your Livy; his CHARLES FIFTH
is written with truth. Hume wrote his History to be applauded, Rapin to
instruct; and both obtained their ends.'

SHERLOCK. "'Lord Bolingbroke and you agreed that we have not one good
Tragedy.'

VOLTAIRE. "'We did think so. CATO is incomparably well written: Addison
had a great deal of taste;--but the